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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29089257">With Every (Broken) Bone In My Body</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaTurmalina/pseuds/LinaTurmalina'>LinaTurmalina</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Developing Relationships, F/F, Flirting &amp; Banter, Hurt/Comfort, a tiny bit of angst, after-action patch-up, and lady knights being horny</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:55:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,169</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29089257</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaTurmalina/pseuds/LinaTurmalina</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I might have a concussion,” Aster remarked, casually. “Or two. Is it possible to have more than one concussion, simul…at the same time?” Long words were not her friends, at the moment.</p><p>Suni pulled an exasperated face, which made her look impossibly adorable.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Knight/Female Healer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Chocolate Box - Round 6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>With Every (Broken) Bone In My Body</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/hernameinthesky/gifts">hernameinthesky</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>happy chocolate box day! :^)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lady Suni cornered her on the battlegrounds at dusk, next to a pile of monster carcasses that had grown so tall it was teetering worrisomely.</p><p>“I thought we agreed I’d no longer have to chase you down, after a battle.”</p><p>Lady Aster let her shoulders slump—then gritted her teeth against the sudden pain that shot down her back. Right: bad idea to relax any muscles.</p><p>The healer must’ve caught her pained twitch. She planted herself between Aster and the mountain of formerly-undead carnivorous beasts, and she poked a finger at Aster’s bloodied armor.</p><p>It was a gentle finger, luckily. Aster was fairly certain a forceful poke would knock her off her feet just then. </p><p>“You sat in this very spot not one day ago and promised to come find me if you were injured. One day, Lady Aster!”</p><p>Lady Suni's charcoal eyes were large and reproachful, yet with an undercurrent of warmth that made Aster want to lose herself in them.</p><p><em>Oof.</em> She mentally kicked herself.<em> Get a grip, Aster</em>. Now wasn't the time for pining. </p><p>Lady Suni gave her a quick, professional onceover.</p><p>“How badly are you injured? You can stand—though of course that doesn’t tell me much, seeing how you once climbed a castle tower with two broken legs…”</p><p>“It was broken ankles,” Aster corrected, with a smile. “And I had to climb the tower: you were at the top and in danger. I’d have climbed it with every bone in my body broken.”</p><p>She realized she might’ve said too much when Lady Suni froze, her mouth open slightly in surprise.</p><p><em>Oops</em>.</p><p>“I might have a concussion,” Aster remarked, casually. “Or two. Is it possible to have more than one concussion, simul…at the same time?” Long words were not her friends, at the moment.</p><p>Suni pulled an exasperated face, which made her look impossibly adorable.</p><p>“With you, anything’s possible,” she muttered. “Stand still a moment, please. Let me see what we’re working with.”</p><p>Her hands went up to the sides of Aster’s face, warm, delicate fingers caressing the knight's temples. <em>Mmm</em>. Aster smiled dreamily, and hoped Lady Suni’s healing magic didn’t let her read minds.</p><p>A pleasant coolness spread from Suni’s hands into her bruised skin, soothing like a cool cloth dabbed against your temples after a jog in the scorching sun. The coolness trickled down her neck—Aster’s breath caught as Suni’s fingers followed, dancing lightly down to her collarbone—and then into her chest.</p><p>Sadly, her chest was covered by armor, so Lady Suni couldn’t touch it.</p><p>Alas.</p><p>Aster wasn’t certain how much time passed, but at some point Suni sighed and stepped back.</p><p>“Alright. It’s…not as bad as it could have been. And you’ve no concussion—a couple small bumps, but nothing I’m worried about.”</p><p>No concussion? Aster frowned. “Are you sure? I feel…kind of out of it. Giddy.”</p><p>Suni’s perfect brows drew together, and she put her fingers on Aster’s brow, pressing gently. The pleasant trickle of her magic returned, briefly, then was gone again.</p><p>“No. I’m sure: your head is fine.” Her eyes narrowed. “At least from a physical standpoint. I’m not certain what it says about your mental capacities, Lady Aster, that you rode alone against a horde of two dozen magick-revived monsters.”</p><p>“They were going to kill our kids,” whispered Aster, all lightness gone from her mood. She didn’t think she’d ever forget the moment she’d realized the monster horde was headed from the pages’ and squires’ training grounds.</p><p>Suni’s expression hardened, and she turned to the pile of carcasses behind her.</p><p>“I know. I’m sorry." She sighed. "Of course you did. I just...I wish the rest of us had arrived sooner.”</p><p>“You came soon enough.” Aster shrugged, then grunted against the agony shooting down her shoulder. “We’re alive. The kids are fine—they are, right?” She’d checked on her own squire and scoured the blood-soaked training grounds to make sure none of the others had been mortally injured, but…she wanted to hear it again.</p><p>“They’re fine. All accounted for, and no life-threatening injuries. The older squires did a good job protecting the pages. Soren in particular.”</p><p>Aster smiled. She’d trained her squire well.</p><p>Though she prayed she’d never had to see him facing down an undead rabid bear. The image was etched on the inside of her lids: a scrawny fourteen-year-old flanked by a handful of friends, protecting a gaggle of even younger children against a mad wizard’s unholy nightmare beasts.</p><p>She might never sleep again.</p><p>She startled when warm fingers squeezed her hand.</p><p>“He’s fine,” said Suni, quietly. “They’re all alright. You got there in time.”</p><p>Aster nodded—then stopped nodding, because her neck hurt, too. And all the blood seemed to have rushed to her head.</p><p>Lady Suni slipped into her side, pulling one of Aster’s arms over her shoulders, and slipping her own arm around Aster’s weight.</p><p>“I’m going to help you walk back to the healers’ ward, and Goddess help me, if you protest or try to put on a brave face, I’ll knock you out and have someone carry you.” She paused. “Not just someone—Sir Mansur.”</p><p>“<em>No</em>,” gasped Aster. Mansur was the closest thing she had to a deadly enemy—save that they were in the same knight corps, so they weren’t <em>rightfully</em> deadly enemies, but definitely something in that neighborhood.</p><p>“I’d rather be dead than take his help,” she said, honestly, as they began to move.</p><p>This earned an annoyed growl from Lady Suni.</p><p>“I’m perfectly aware. You seem to prefer death to taking <em>any</em> help.”</p><p>“Not yours.”</p><p>“Hm. Yet I had to march down here and retrieve you, and if I had arrived five minutes later, I’d have found you in an unconscious, bloody heap.”</p><p>Aster opened her mouth to argue, but paused. She didn’t feel <em>very</em> far from the unconscious-bloody-heap stage. Her limbs only half-responded to her commands, and her head still felt terribly fuzzy.</p><p>“Are you sure I don’t have a concussion?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“I really think—”</p><p>“It’s blood loss,” said Lady Suni. “And poison. And possibly aftershock from the battle. Any of those can cause disorientation and loss of focus.”</p><p>That sounded about right.</p><p>Wait—</p><p>“Poison?” Aster groaned, then mumbled an apology when Suni stumbled under her weight. When had the healers’ ward moved so far, anyway? It used to be right next to the training grounds.</p><p>“The damned things were <em>poisonous</em>, too?” She would find that rogue wizard and impale him on a thousand rusted nails. “Did any of the kids—”</p><p>“Some. I fixed it. Well…mostly. ” Lady Suni caught her breath, grunting quietly from the effort of walking with half of Aster’s weight. “The other healers are administering antidotes. But no one was in as bad a shape as you. One of the pages got scratched, and our squires had some more serious cuts and a couple of bites.”</p><p>“I think I got bitten.” The memory of the battle was a blur, in her mind. It often happened that way, when she had to give it her all to stay alive.</p><p>“I don’t think I got bitten by the bears. But maybe a wolf or two. Maybe a lynx, too…” She glanced down to her shredded boots. She definitely remembered an undead, hollow-eyed large cat biting into it.</p><p>“Bad kitty,” she muttered.</p><p>And then her head abruptly increased its weight tenfold, and she stumbled and fell flat on her face, and everything went dark.</p><hr/><p>When she opened her eyes again, the first thing she saw was Lady Suni’s gorgeous profile about a foot away.</p><p>She blinked to clear her vision. They weren't on the battle-ravaged training grounds, anymore. By the tall, white ceilings and the light blue crystal-lights in the corners, Aster recognized the healers' ward.</p><p>Made sense. Her body felt like it belonged in a healers' ward, definitely. Or maybe in a meat grinder.</p><p>She shifted, and Lady Suni’s eyes flicked, briefly, to her, before returning to whatever the healer was examining in the general vicinity of Aster’s liver. Her warm hands were on Aster's skin ribs, and beneath them the cool tickle of her magic. <em>Ohh</em>.</p><p>Aster blinked again. She could smell lemongrass and lavender. Lady Suni always smelled of lemongrass and lavender.</p><p>She let herself relax into the narrow ward cot and inhaled contentedly—and sharp pain slammed her ribs halfway through the inhale.  </p><p>She yipped in shock, and Lady Suni startled.</p><p>“No deep breaths, please—sorry, I didn’t realize you’d do that. I’m still mending your intercostal ligaments. The bones are fused, but it will take a little while longer for the pain to subside.”</p><p>Aster kept her teeth gritted a moment longer, until she was sure she could talk without gasping.</p><p>“Bones?” she breathed out at last.</p><p>“Four ribs. Clavicle. Scapula. Couple of fingers—I’ve not gotten to those, yet. And your left tibia has several fissure. Possibly from the large cat bite. It felt… gnawed on.”</p><p>“Ouch.”</p><p>Lady Suni’s dark eyes flicked back to her. They were as luminous as always, but looked…larger somehow. A little sunken.</p><p>She looked tired, Aster realized.</p><p>“How long have you been working on me?”</p><p>“On the current injuries, or in general?”</p><p>Aster smirked. She’d deserved that.</p><p>“Current injuries, please.” She grinned. “I’m afraid to hear the other answer.”</p><p>“From the second I found you next to that pile of dead-undead-bears.” Lady Suni let out a slow breath. The tingle of her magic intensified. “I thought I’d tied enough things together to help you make it to the healers’ ward. But there was more damage than I’d realized…”</p><p>She gave Aster a long look. There were shadows under her eyes that definitely hadn’t been there earlier.</p><p>“Sorry,” muttered Aster. “You can probably stop…I’ll heal the rest naturally.”</p><p>“I don’t think you understand precisely how much damage your body took. The broken bones were the least of it—that’s why I’m only getting to them now. And that’s despite the rib that perforated your liver.” Her voice shook slightly.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Aster repeated. “I should’ve come to you sooner.”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Lady Suni returned her attention to the healing, keeping her eyes carefully trained on her hands, and she said nothing else.</p><p>Aster felt the need to fill the silence.</p><p>“I just…I wanted to make sure all the beasts were dead. <em>Needed</em> to make sure.” She waited in vain for a reply. “The kids’ needed healers’ attention more than I did. And there were other injured knights. Oh—are they all…?”</p><p>“Fine,” said Suni. “Sir Ianus and Sir Drago will need a longer recovery. Sir Phillip nearly succumbed to the poison—but he’s alright now. And do you know why?” Her tone went from composed to malevolent.</p><p>Aster sighed. “Because he came to the healers’ ward right away.”</p><p>“Because he came to the healers’ ward right away,” Suni confirmed. Her jaw was tight.</p><p>Right. “This might not be the right time to point this out, but your magic’s kind of, uhm…burning me?”</p><p>Lady Suni gave her a flat look. “It’s supposed to burn: the muscles are knitting back together. The coolness will return when I clean the area to prevent inflammation.” Her nostrils flared. “I assure you, Lady Aster, even when I am angry, I am quite capable of tending to you without adding further injury.”</p><p>“I know.” Aster closed her eyes, sighing. The smell of lemony lavender still soothed her, despite the acerbic tone the conversation had taken.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” she whispered again. “I know I said I’d find you if I needed help. I just…wanted to finish the job.”</p><p>“The job nearly finished you.” Lady Suni took a deep breath, her hands clasped tight before her. “I am our land’s most powerful healer, and even I cannot mend all your damage in one sitting. You’ll need to stay here a week, and I’ll have to work on you several times each day—”</p><p>Aster bit back a smile. “I can think of worse fates.”</p><p>“—and <em>maybe</em>, if you’re very lucky and I don’t die from magical exhaustion halfway through, you’ll be able to go back to recklessly trying to get yourself killed by next moon.” Lady Suni’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t find this humorous.”</p><p>“No. I mean—it’s not. Forgive me.”</p><p>Aster pushed herself up on one elbow, wary of damaging more of her abdomen muscles. Her shoulder ached and her neck burned a little, but Suni didn’t snarl at her to lie still, so she managed a half-sitting position.</p><p>“You’re right,” she told the healer. “I didn’t realize how badly those damned things mauled me. It happens sometimes, in the heat of battle. I—my mind focuses entirely on one goal, and it doesn’t pay attention to things like injuries.”</p><p>“In the old books, they called it berserker rage.” Lady Suni bit her lips. “I’d heard some knights can do that, but…You didn’t seem enraged.” She frowned. “I’ve never seen anyone fight like you do. It’s like…a choreographed dance. You’re always in the best position, and the enemies just…arrange themselves around you. I don’t know how you do it.”</p><p>“I don’t, either.” Aster hesitated. “It’s not rage. Well—a bit of rage. But mostly, I feel…calm. In control. I know what I want—in this case, to keep the beasts away from our kids—and I simply…calculate how everyone will move and how I need to move to win.”</p><p>“You make it sound easy.”</p><p>“It feels easy, in the moment. But it takes all my focus. I can’t mind anything else, until the battle is done.” Aster looked down; her chemise, rolled up to let Suni work, was caked with dry blood. “If I focus on things like injuries, I’ll miss a move and get killed. But…I don’t mean to make you exhaust yourself healing me. I’m sorry.”</p><p>Lady Suni nodded. “I know.” She wrinkled her nose, a faint smile playing on her lips. “I don’t usually lose my temper with my patients. I was simply…”</p><p>“Tired?” Aster supplied. “Of my hard-headedness?”</p><p>“I’m rather grateful for your hard head. I’m not sure I could safely mend a concussion, today.” Suni moved down the cot, humming quietly as she prodded Aster’s leg. “I <em>am</em> tired. But mostly I was…worried. Scared. That one day, you’ll stall just a little too long in seeking a healer, and…it will be too late.” Her voice quivered again. “Even I can’t bring back the dead.”</p><p>“I know. I’ll…try harder.” She blushed as Suni’s serious eyes met hers. “I will. I’ll find help, once the battle is over.”</p><p>“Any reasonable person might have thought the battle over hours ago,” whispered Suni. “You did not have to trudge about the field dragging undead bear corpses and aggravating your injuries.”</p><p>“I was…working through some emotions.”</p><p>Lady Suni sighed. “Yes. I understand the after-battle rush. And many knights die because of it—because they don’t seek help. Don’t they teach you that in training?”</p><p>“They do, actually. That’s why finding a healer after battle is pretty much a rule, regardless of whether we think we’re injured or not.” Aster smirked. “It’s a rule most of us skirt, I’ll admit.”</p><p>“Then I’ll take your promise to no longer skirt it.” She met Aster’s eyes again, and there was a hardness in hers. No one would describe Lady Suni as stubborn or unyielding…but Aster thought she’d just found a firm streak in the gentle healer.</p><p>“I promise. I’ll find help as soon as I’m able to think of it. And…I’ll work on thinking of it faster.”</p><p>Lady Suni’s shoulders dropped a fraction. “Good.” A corner of her mouth rose in a small smile. “I’ll hold you to that. I’d be quite disappointed if you got yourself killed after the amount of work hours I’ve put into you.”</p><p>Aster grinned. “I am nothing if not a testament to your exquisite healing skills. Ow.” She was pretty sure Suni had cracked her hip bone on purpose.</p><p>“I’m glad you respect my skills, Lady Aster.” Suni beckoned over a healer trainee, with an unsettling clay mug full of bubbling…something. “Now that you’re conscious, you can assist me. Please drink this.”</p><p>“Uhm…no, thank you?” Under the healer’s pointed look, Aster sighed and took the mug. It smelled like the inside of her boot. “I really don’t think—”</p><p>“Drink it. Feel free to hold your nose.”</p><p>Aster did, but it didn’t help.</p><p>“It tastes like undead bear bile. Is this just for revenge?”</p><p>“Not <em>just</em>—the tonic will help keep your insides in place until I can do a second healing session tomorrow.” Lady Suni smiled. “But usually I serve it to patients with a glass of honeyed cold tea. You, however, get no honeyed tea.”</p><p>“You are a cruel woman.”</p><p>“Simply one who wishes to emphasize her point. I don’t want to mourn your death, Lady Aster.”</p><p>Aster smirk. “You’d mourn me, Lady Suni?”</p><p>“Eventually.” The healer frowned. “First, I’d curse your name for a good long while, and your inability to accept that your body has limits. Then, I suppose I’d have to kill whoever hurt you. Then I’d do penance for breaking the healer’s code against revenge killing…”</p><p>“There’s no code against revenge-feeding-your-patients-revolting-concoctions?”</p><p>“Not to the most recalcitrant patients.”</p><p>“I shall endeavor to be your most delightful patient, then. If it means you’ll treat me nicely.”</p><p>Lady Suni gave her a superior smile. “I treat everyone nicely, Lady Aster.”</p><p>She wrapped a piece of cotton wool around Aster’s torso, loosely, then pulled the thin blanket up to her chest and moved up to touch Aster’s collarbone.</p><p>This was certainly nice treatment. Aster relaxed into the pillow and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of Suni’s fingers, and the faint scent of lavender.</p><p>It was almost enough to wash away the aftertaste of the vile tonic.</p><p>She opened her eyes again, her breath speeding up a little when she noticed how closely the other woman’s face was.</p><p>“Would you really go out to avenge me?” she whispered. “If someone killed me?”</p><p>Lady Suni’s bright eyes met hers—and there was that hard determination again, in their depths.</p><p>“With every bone in my body broken,” said the healer, and one of her hands squeezed Aster’s arm, gently but somehow…possessively.</p><p>Aster swallowed: she was starting to feel giddy again, and she didn’t think it was the blood loss, this time.</p><p>“We should…talk about that,” she managed, in a clumsy whisper. “Later. When I’m not, uhm…”</p><p>“Yes.” Lady Suni bit her lips, her cheeks darkening slightly into a blush. She stepped back and cleared her throat, hands flying to adjust the blanket around Aster’s waist. “Right. Yes…later.”</p><p>Aster didn’t think she’d ever seen her flustered. It was the most endearing sight.</p><p>Ruined somewhat when another healer walked closer with a glass of a different, yet equally-horrible-looking tonic, and Lady Suni held out the glass to Aster, eyebrows wiggling pointedly.</p><p>Oh, Goddess.</p>
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